ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Wheat fields south of Interstate 70 benefited from late winter moisture, but low wheat prices mean growers will need above-average yields to approach breaking even at harvest.

In Tennessee, plenty of winter moisture brought marginal wheat stands up to par. That moisture is also impacting topdress. “Wet soils and several showers through the area over the past few weeks have left some scrambling to apply the remaining topdress nitrogen to their wheat,” said Tyson Raper, University of Tennessee small grains specialist at Jackson.

He added some producers are balancing wheat management with corn planting, “as rain in the forecast suggests the corn planting window may be narrow this year.”

The situation is the same in western Kentucky, where splitting nitrogen topdress applications boost wheat yields 3-5 bushels per acre, according to university research. The wet spring is pushing producers to a single application.

“There could be a slight yield penalty” for the single N application, said Carrie Knott, University of Kentucky (UK) extension agronomist at Princeton. “But our wheat is looking really great here.”

Late topdressing also means keeping a close watch on weed pressure; some herbicides have the potential to injure wheat when applied near the time of topdressing. But wheat growth this spring has outpaced weeds in most fields.

“So far, our weed control is working well,” said Knott.

The yield boost from split application is also more profitable in years of higher prices. According to UT’s wheat production budgets, a topdressing trip costs between $6-$7 per acre – and that assumes ideal machinery management and machine efficiency. With wheat harvest prices in the low $5 per bushel range, a 3-bushel yield boost would translate to a net gain of $5-$10 per acre, if all other conditions are perfect.

A rainy fall and low wheat profitability potential cut down wheat plantings in the southern Corn Belt, especially in southern Illinois. The state’s farmers planted 600,000 acres last fall, 80 percent of 2013 plantings. Winter wheat acreage is down 11 percent in Ohio, where growers planted 550,000 acres.

Western Kentucky wheat producers planted about the same last fall – 620,000 acres, just 10,000 fewer than last season. “Wheat’s profitability potential was limited when the crop was seeded,” said Todd Davis, grain marketing specialist at UK’s Western Research and Education Center in Princeton.

In mid-March, he estimated producers need a breakeven price of $6.23 per bushel at a 75-bushel yield and $175 cash rent per acre; a $5.30 price would result in a $75 loss to variable costs and cash rent. Tennessee profitability estimates, updated in late March, show similar loss levels.

Most wheat growers in Kentucky and Tennessee double-crop wheat with soybeans. The latest UT profitability projections for wheat/soybeans show a positive return per acre above variable costs and land rent.

Tennessee wheat plantings, 470,000 acres, are down sharply from 640,000 acres in 2013 and 530,000 in 2014. But that amount is still above the 10-year wheat planting average of 426,000 acres.

Total U.S. winter wheat plantings are 40.75 million acres, 4 percent lower than last year, according to a March 31 USDA report.